Conventional breaking devices in glass plate working machines mainly include fire type ones and pressing and breaking type ones.
For example, the fire type device includes a flame blowout unit disposed at a required position outside a glass plate cutting line such that the flame from the flame blowout unit is applied to a glass plate to heat same to thereby break the plate.
The press-breaking type device includes an end cutter and a press unit disposed at required positions. The cutter is first operated to form an end cutting line on the glass plate and then the press unit is operated to break the glass.
As mentioned above, in any of the conventional breaking devices, a flame blowout unit or an end cutter and a press unit are required to be prepared and disposed at required positions. If the shape of the glass plate changes, the layout of the flame blowout units or end cutter and press unit set for obtaining the previous shape of the glass plates must be canceled and a new layout of these devices must be made. These Jobs are done almost by workers. If a plurality of the conventional breaking devices is used, they must be disposed in a narrow space while avoiding interference from each other. In addition, effective arrangement of the end cutter and press unit at desired positions is very troublesome, difficult, and time consuming, so that bad breakage, for example, chipping would occur to thereby deteriorate the productivity greatly.
As described above, in the conventional breaking apparatus of the glass plate working machine, the end cutter and press unit are disposed at predetermined positions. Thus, if the shape of a glass plate to be formed or cut varies, the layout of the end cutter and press unit must be changed correspondingly, so that the work is complicated, much work time is required, and this process is not suitable for flexible manufacturing if various forms of glass plates are to be obtained.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a glass plate breaking apparatus which is capable of adjusting immediately to a different shape of a glass plate to be formed newly without requiring any re-layout of the end cutter and press unit which have been once laid out in a fixed manner, simplifying the breaking operation, reducing the work time, and is suitable for flexible manufacturing, and a glass plate working machine including such a breaking device.